Help Needed

Help Needed (Russian: Нужна Помощь, romanized: Nuzhna Pomoshch') is a charitable foundation that helps other charities and social projects in Russia. The mission of the foundation is the systematic development of charity in the country and changing the attitude of society towards solving social problems.

Help Needed
Founded2012
FoundersMitya Aleshkovskiy, Anna Semyonova
Typecharitable foundation
PurposeDevelopment of infrastructure for charitable, social and socially significant initiatives
HeadquartersMoscow, Russia
Chairman of the Board
Mitya Aleshkovskiy
Director
Anna Semyonova
Budget
  • 2014 – ₽14795275
  • 2015 – ₽62668085
  • 2016 – ₽128437130
  • 2017 – ₽166246892 (Help Needed), ₽83265941 (Takie Dela)
Staff
60+
Websitehttps://nuzhnapomosh.ru

The foundation systematically implements projects aimed at the interaction and development of all parts of society related to solving social problems. The main goals are to strengthen the nonprofit sector in Russia, so that employees can maintain a high level of professionalism; to have the number of charities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) be sufficient to address the needs of a vulnerable population; and finally, to actively involve all citizens in solving social problems.

The foundation works as a fund of funds, fundraising for other non-profit organizations, including charitable foundations. While it helps other organizations, it does not provide targeted assistance to beneficiaries. All projects supported by the foundation are verified.[1]

History of the foundation

In 2012 TASS photojournalist Mitya Aleshkovsky came to Krymsk for an editorial assignment. After he led the development of a support system that efficiently helped local residents suffering from terrible flooding, he decided to leave photojournalism and devote himself entirely to charity. In 2013 Aleshkovskiy and a group of journalists started the charitable program HelpNeeded.ru, which operated under the Mosaic of Happiness charitable foundation.

Help Needed was registered as a charitable foundation on September 1, 2015. The co-founders were Aleshkovsky, who headed the foundation board, and Anna Semenova, who became the organization's director. Previously, Semenova worked for the Our Children foundation (2012–2014),[2] Volunteers to help orphans (2007–2012),[3] and for "Start" (2004–2007). She graduated from the Moscow State University Department of Sociology.

The board of the foundation is the supreme collegiate body with the key function to ensure that the foundation meets the objectives for which it was set up. Operations are overseen by the board of trustees. The duties of the Board and the board of trustees are determined by the statute of the foundation.[4]

Activities

Takie Dela

The Takie Dela web portal was launched on May 25, 2015.[5] The project name comes from the Russian phrase takiye dela (Russian: такие дела, lit. 'so it goes'). The main goal of the project is to use high-quality journalism as a powerful tool for the systematic resolution of social problems in Russia. Mitya Aleshkovsky stated that the portal's "task is to return the ordinary person's story to journalism and, in general, to the media space", rediscover traditions of social journalism and create a new media approach.[6] Every day the portal posts fundraising articles about the wards of charitable projects which it supports. At the end of such materials readers are encouraged to make a regular donation of any amount to help the particular project. To provide the full transparency, all fundraising results and budgets of supported projects which are verified by the Help Needed experts, as well as the foundation's own reports[7] are published online and publicly available. In addition to fundraising articles, the portal publishes editorials. Andrei Loshak and Pavel Pryanikov[8] were editors-in-chief in 2015–2016. Since 2016 the project has been led by Valery Panyushkin. The visual department is headed by Andrei Polikanov, who worked as a photo editor for Time magazine, headed the department of photography at the Russian Reporter magazine and served as a member of the photo contest jury for World Press Photo.[9] Takie Dela has received various awards, including the Russian government's media prize in 2017 for "creating a new information portal format to support and develop charities in Russia",[10][11] the Sakharov Prize, and others.

Special Projects department

Takie Dela's special projects department is focused on the production of new forms of media covering "tough" and unpopular topics.

In March 2017 an animated web documentary titled "There once lived..." was released in honor of Homeless Day.[12] The interactive online project tells five stories of real people and received several awards at the 2017 Great Eight festival (G8).[13]

The special projects team also received the 2017 Best Digital News Story award of the international festival Visa pour l'Image for "Kosa i Kamen" (Russian: Коса и Камень, lit. 'Scythe and Stone'; titled "Warm Waters Kamchatka" in English). The project was created in collaboration with photographer Vlad Sokhin and is about climate change in the Russian Far East.[14]

Polzuyas Sluchayem: Take this opportunity

In December 2016, Help Needed launched an online platform, Pol'zuyas' Sluchayem (Russian: Пользуясь Случаем, lit. 'Take this opportunity'),[15] aimed at involving a broader audience in fundraising for charity projects. The service allows anyone to raise funds for non-profit projects using any occasion such as a birthday, anniversary, or sporting event. Users can create pages for their events and invite their friends, colleagues and subscribers to raise funds for the projects they support.[16]

Research

Study of the non-profit sector in Russia is one of the key activities of the foundation. Researchers of the foundation systematically collect, analyze and evaluate data on the sector.[17] All research materials are publicly available on the foundation website.[18]

Charitable tours

At the end of 2017, Help Needed won the Russian presidential grant to implement the "Charity Tour" program in the eastern regions of the country.[19] The program's goal is to develop Russian civil society through combining efforts of regional NGOs and media, local authorities and business stakeholders. At the local level the project's goal is to enhance the professional skills of regional NGOs.

Publishing house

In 2017, the foundation opened its own publishing house[20] to print books on charity, philanthropy and various aspects of development of the non-profit sector of the economy. According to foundation Chairman Mitya Aleshkovskiy, it is a logical and very important step for the foundation to regularly publish books which are essential for everyone involved in solving social problems.[21] The first book published was a Russian edition of Uncharitable – How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine Their Potential by American writer, entrepreneur and activist Dan Pallotta.

References
  1. "Поддержка благотворительных проектов" [Support for charitable projects]. Nuzhna Pomosh (in Russian).
  2. "Дети Наши - благотворительный фонд помощи детям - Наша команда" [Our Children – a charity fund for helping children – Our team]. Дети наши (in Russian). Archived from the original on February 13, 2014.
  3. "Волонтеры в помощь детям-сиротам :: Кто мы" [Volunteers to help orphans :: Who we are]. otkazniki.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on March 6, 2012.
  4. "Устав БФ 'Нужна помощь'" [Charter of the Charity Fund "Help Needed"] (PDF). Takie Dela (in Russian). July 27, 2015.
  5. "Благотворительный фонд 'Нужна помощь' запускает интернет-СМИ 'Такие дела'" [Charitable Foundation "Help Needed" launches online media "Takie Dela"]. The Village (in Russian). May 25, 2015.
  6. Tolstosheeva, Irina (May 26, 2015). "'Мы готовим почву для новых пожертвований'. Митя Алешковский — о проекте 'Такие дела'" ["We are preparing the ground for new donations." Mitya Aleshkovsky – about the "Takie Dela" project]. Philanthropy (in Russian). Retrieved August 6, 2023.
  7. "Отчеты" [Reports]. Nuzhna Pomosh (in Russian).
  8. "Павел Пряников — обо мне" [Pavel Pryanikov – about me]. Snob (in Russian).
  9. "Andrei Polikanov". World Press Photo. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
  10. "Список награждённых премиями Правительства Российской Федерации 2017 года в области средств массовой информации" [List of award recipients of the Government of the Russian Federation in 2017 in the field of mass media] (PDF). Government of Russia (in Russian). January 15, 2018.
  11. Aleshkovsky, Mitya (January 15, 2018). "'Человеческая жизнь – высшая ценность': речь Мити Алешковского на вручении премии правительства в области СМИ" ["Human life is the highest value": speech by Mitya Aleshkovsky at the presentation of the government's media award]. Takie Dela (in Russian).
  12. "There once lived". Takie Dela. 2017.
  13. "Работы" [Works]. G8 (in Russian).
  14. "Коса и Камень" [Scythe and Stone]. Takie Dela.
  15. "Пользуясь Случаем - сбор средств на благотворительные проекты" [Taking the Chance - raising funds for charitable projects]. Пользуясь случаем (in Russian).
  16. Chistyakova, Ekaterina (November 24, 2014). "Легкая благотворительность: как устроить чаепитие и помочь людям" [Easy charity: How to have a tea party and help people]. Forbes Life (in Russian). Retrieved August 6, 2023.
  17. "Фонд "Нужна помощь" проанализировал взаимосвязь избыточного потребления и благотворительности" [The "Help Needed" foundation analyzed the relationship between excessive consumption and charity]. Takie Dela (in Russian). June 7, 2017.
  18. "Материалы отдела исследований" [Research materials]. Nuzhna Pomosh (in Russian).
  19. Shvedov, Vladimir (November 22, 2017). "Фонд 'Нужна помощь' выиграл президентский грант на проект 'Благотворительные гастроли'" [The "Help Needed" foundation won a presidential grant for the "Charity Tour" project]. Takie Dela (in Russian).
  20. "Благотворительный фонд 'Нужна Помощь' открыл собственное издательство" [Charitable foundation "Help Needed" opened its own publishing house]. gorky.media (in Russian).
  21. Korytina, Evgenia (December 1, 2017). "5 идей, которые мешают развитию благотворительности" [5 ideas that hinder the development of charity]. Philanthropy (in Russian).
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